Watched 1999's Tarzan which I vaguely remembered, ditto the cartoon but I more remember the live-action George of the Jungle. Had a bit of a problem with Tarzan's arms but otherwise looked nice, Phil Collins provided decent support music but nothing memorable, decent villain. Had an emotional early story

the life and death of Tarzan's parents

and a well done, competent overall story

Liked Minnie Driver's Jane, provided a bit of spunk and humour. Wasn't that keen on the animal companions

Watched the animation Cinderella, is intresting in part due to how Disney changed animation since then. The backgrounds feel like pictures with animation in front of it but it works and still looks pretty, songs are nice but extremely short and would loved to have seen the likes of "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" given a full song though it's big romantic number doesn't shine. The high pitched way the mice speak is no longer used to depict talking animals thankfully, the animals have a very Tom and Jerry style humour.

As a film, it is quite short but does feel like Disney didn't know what to do with the main tale, rushing the beginning and mostly being about the animals. Cinderella is nice enough, the Prince is barely in it so hard to really warm to the romance, the fairy God Mother is fun in her cameo, mice are Marmite figures (I found them a little annoying, my sister enjoyed them), the Grand Duke is fun. The villains are good, the step-mother is barely in it but the animation gives her a fierce presence while Lucifer the cat is a nice mix of cunning to make him a threat and Tom and Jerry style humour with his repeated failure.

Watched Disney/Pixar/SNP love-dream Brave, we were expecting a Disney film and they have certainly claimed it as one of their own (Merida now a Disney Princess) but this is very much a Pixar movie. The different tone, no songs etc. As a Pixar film? Fine but not one of their greats. Visually good but more mystic Celtic then Scotland, otherwise they really do try to sell it as a Scottish film (kilts, caber tossing, Scottish accents and so on), one or two scenes can be quite scary

mainly the bears

, has humour thanks to figures like the King (Billy Connolly on very good form)

and the Witch (Julie Walters)

While an amusing film, my main problem for awhile is I didn't like Merida (Kelly McDonnald) or greatly sympathise with her cause, it was only after a certain point

turns mother (Emma Thompson) into a bear and left the castle

that I began to like her and enjoy her scenes, I thought the theme went with hit it's mark from that point. Wasn't a bad film, just not a great one.

Watched Enchanted again. For a film that was perhaps trying to shake off it's Disney image, didn't really tear into it's old ways, the humour was funny but gentle and it ended up feeling more like old nods. If attempting to shake off "helpless Disney princess", failed miserably at that or at least didn't go far enough. What it does well is combine old Disney magic with nods, romance and songs with fun mixing it with "real world", the true love believing Giselle (Amy Adams) vs the cynical divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and having fun with what princess powers might do in New York.

It is fun, has humour, fun baddies though the main one is underwritten, songs are nice with a nice big romance song but could have done with one more, good romance though a side one is underwritten. I did find Giselle a bit annoying when first in New York but once it get past the initial "look how strange she is in New York", I warmed to her, film also uses movement excellently to add to the characters.

Watched Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, a direct to video alternative so no Elton John, visuals fine but lacks the brilliance of the original film, no Rowan Atkinson (Edward Hibbert plays Zazu) but rest of voice cast remain. Starts off with a really strange choice: Circle of Life scene but with worse music and worse visuals, way to advertise that! Comedy comes from Timon, Pumba and Rafiki, romance is meh, songs nice but only "We Are One" stands out as a really good song. The old characters fit well with the past and nice idea with Simba, other then the neutered Nala who now has no personality, new characters nice enough with the villains, led by Zira (Suzanne Pleshette), quite intresting.

Besides the bad idea for an opening, it opens quite well, building up the new characters, the villains particularly intresting, some decent music, a nice storyline building up. One has to ignore certain characters didn't exist in first movie but now have to believe that they were there all the time but if you can get past that, as it built up I was looking forward to seeing it all unfold. Alas once plans get under way, it seems to rely on quite a few characters being complete idiots rather then feeling well thought out, there are some clumsy moments and one promising character

Looks good as you would expect but felt the ball and so on lacked a sense of the spectacular. Lots of Disney nods which was a bit mixed, things like the use of colour was a lovely nod but some would have been better not touched on at all rather then built up and never used

Lucifer for example, started down the path of animal comedy then dropped it

, a certain fat mouse was adorable though. A big name cast with lots of recognizable faces and good performances, had a nice sense of comedy as a part of the film with some nice one-liners and the step-sisters played by Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera.

The romance between Lilly James Cinderella and Richard Madden's Prince was quite good, Helena Bonham Carter's Fairy God Mother didn't click for me but the thing that I really enjoyed was the parents. Be it the King (Derek Jacobi) with his son, Cinderella's parents (Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin), they had a good rapport with their children and led to some of the saddest scenes. I did like Cate Blanchett's Lady Tremaine but the film couldn't seem to decide quite what her motivation was, contradicting itself at times.

Tried Sword in the Stone, can see certain Disney traits like use of animals for humour, the old style of animation and so on. The idea for Merlin's character isn't bad but they don't quite pull it off and humour doesn't work, struggled to be interested in the characters. Did love Fred Darian's sung opening narration

Watched Sleeping Beauty and it is intresting what has been kept in their parks or things like Maleficent or Once Upon A Time: Maleficent including costume, the palace, the name Aurora (though the look has been updated). The song "Once Upon A Dream" remains iconic.

As a film it it's own right? While nowadays the background characters clearly being painted on looks odd, it still looks quite good. Once Upon A Dream is lovely but the ballet music and chorus singing didn't work for me, some animal fun

horse and owl mostly

, the three fairies are enjoyable, a good villain. Alas Aurora and her Prince feel a little secondary to everything else and hard to warm to them.

Watched the Little Mermaid which I had fond memories of. The colours have not aged well, the drawing and animation is very good and detailed but the colours have become muted over time but while it may no longer have oomph visually, it is a charming film. Ariel is charming and does feel like a well meaning teenager, exploring boundaries, wanting something that is barred and first love. Triton and Sebistain provide good support as concerned parental figures (Grimsby does likewise for Eric), nice comedy from dog Max and the seagull Scuttle. Romance itself is nice enough, Ursula has her moments of flair and style but lacks a little something to be a great villain, has a few themes.

I had forgotten how good the soundtrack was with "Kiss the Girl", the lovely "Part of Your World" and Under the Sea being fun songs that stick in the head.